CU football: Buffs' video department wins Heartland Emmy

MacIntyre attends ceremony to honor Guy, Snelson

Want to know what it means to be a part of the University of Colorado Buffalo family? Just ask the CU sports video department.

A two-man crew, Jamie Guy and John Snelson, runs the department and spearheaded "Seasons," a video documenting the ties that bind the Buffs' football program.

The video, which was released shortly after the 2013 season, won the Heartland Emmy for Sports One-Time Special on July 12 .

CU video's Jamie Guy. (CU sports information)

Guy, the director of sports video, worked on the film for almost 11 months with Snelson, the assistant director of sports video, and a few other members of the department.

The nearly 12-minute video includes highlights of past Buffs teams and includes action from the first offseason, training camp and regular season under coach Mike MacIntyre.

The select few people that were chosen to work on "Seasons" were able to get footage of the team whenever they needed.

"We are here all the time so access is a big advantage for us," Snelson said. "We are around the coaches and the team every day."

Access, however, is not all there is to it. Guy and his crew needed to be comfortable with cameras while around the players. The video crews couldn't be shy and had to close to the action.

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"We try different things a lot and got closer than anybody else might want to because they might not feel comfortable," Guy said.

Cameras were put into the locker room and weight room, on the practice field and sidelines during games. The video crew even traveled with the team to road games.

"Seasons" starts with a voice over from Paul Vigo, who played linebacker and served as a captain for the Buffs last season.

"Colorado football. It isn't just a program, it's a family," he says in the film.

Writing the script was a process in itself for the department. They went through a hiring process for a writer and then worked with Bryce Emely to get the 15-page script perfected.

"We worked on the script for a long time before we started putting the video together," Snelson said.

The crew didn't expect the recognition they received for the video.

"We hoped for it, but we had no idea (we would win the Emmy)," Snelson said.

Busy Buffs

The sports video department does more for the football team than the public sees.

The department's duties including shooting practice and game footage to trade with other schools, motivational videos for the team and season-long projects to boost the image of the program.

CU video's John Snelson (CU sports information)

"There is a lot of stuff that we do with (the players) that we never put online," Snelson said. "(The players) are used to it and they know we (film) all of the time."

They work with MacIntyre to make sure that the correct message is being sent to the public.

"(MacIntyre) likes to watch everything we do and make sure it is the vision he would like to express," Snelson said.

MacIntyre and the sports video department usually have the same vision so the coach rarely disagrees with the videos, Snelson added.

The coach is so supportive of the video team's efforts that he attended the Emmy ceremony.

"Coach MacIntyre came, which was cool," Snelson said. "I feel like that's a rare thing, (to) want to be at an Emmy ceremony."

MacIntyre isn't the only one excited to be involved with the video department. Former players, other coaches and alumni want to be a part of the videos.

"(All of the former players) we called ... were really willing to help," Guy said.

Bill Harris, who rushed for more than a 1,000 yards in his CU career, was filmed attending a game last season. Another former Buff, Deon Figures, was eager to be a part as well, but couldn't get out to Boulder.

"Another thing that is special about (how far) we have come is that a lot of former players know who we are and want to be a part of the videos," Snelson said. "It's cool to be connected to the whole program through the work we do."

Guy admits that even with the success of "Seasons" that he, and his team, have a lot to learn still about creating films.

"(We are still learning about) some of the film making techniques and camera movement ... that everybody sees all of the time but you don't really notice ... and we didn't understand that to the level that we do now," Guy said.

Even with the Emmy under their belts and the other numerous awards and nominations they have received, Guy and Snelson have a different award that is one of their favorite.

After the Buffs beat Washington State 35-34 on the road in 2012, Guy and Snelson were the only people to receive a game ball from former CU football coach, Jon Embree.

"We made a motivational video for the team and it was a lot of work and it turned out really well and no players got the game ball, just me and Jaime," Snelson said. "It was pretty incredible."​

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